


Evil Author Day 2020

by StephaniD



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Evil Author Day, F/F, Gen, Let Seven say fuck, Telepathy, Unfinished, let b'elanna say fuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22588153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StephaniD/pseuds/StephaniD
Summary: Evil Author Day is when you post WIPs you have that may or may not ever be finished/posted. This year's is shorter than 2018 & 2019! I guess I'm getting better at finishing my stories! And hey feel free to comment if you want to see more of whatever. I don't stop writing on purpose, I want these done as much as you do.Chapter titles: B7 Swears, Chapter 18 of She's Imperfect but She Tries, Chapter 9 of Jadzia Returns
Relationships: Jadzia Dax/Kira Nerys, Seven of Nine/B'Elanna Torres
Kudos: 12





	1. B7 Swears

"Torres." Seven of Nine announced her presence to the engineer under the workstation. She heard a bang as the engineer's head hit the underside of the workstation in surprise. 

"Ow! Dammit, Seven!" Torres crawled out. "Give me some warning next time." 

"I was attempting to." Seven of Nine frowned at her lack of success. "Please explain that word, it is unfamiliar to me." 

"What word?" B'elanna asked. 

"Dammit."

“Don’t the Borg know about swear words?”

“As a category, yes, but not in practice. Swear words are commonly used as intensity modifiers or as slang of an act or item that is considered offensive.” Seven of Nine summarized as she gave Torres the padd she’d been working on.

“The computer can probably teach you about swear words better than I can. Thanks for the info.” Torres turned back to her work. Seven of Nine filed the word away for further study later. 

> Word: Dammit  
>  Quote: Dammit, Seven!  
>  Speaker: B'elanna Torres  
>  Relevant context: Surprise, pain   
>  Computer definition: originally from the phrase 'damn it to hell' from Human religion Christianity. Primarily used to express frustration. 

Seven of Nine saved the file. As had become common, the computer's definition of a thing she was confused or curious about seemed to fall short. She decided the best way to learn about swear words was to observe. Though collecting data may take time, she hadn't observed anyone using swear words until B'elanna that afternoon. Although, she hadn't been in many situations to hear swear words. She tended to avoid large groups of crewmen, especially jocular or boisterous ones, especially off-duty. Perhaps she should spend more time in places like the mess hall. 

Seven of Nine accepted a bowl of oatmeal from Neelix. She preferred the same texture throughout and lack of strong flavor to something with different textures and strong flavors like an omelette. 

"So, it turns out a death sentence and burial isn't usually part of playing doctor." Paris concluded a story. 

"Yeah, no shit." Kim chuckled, sitting across the table from Paris. 

"May I join you?" Seven of Nine asked. 

"Oh, uh, Seven, sure, here." Paris replied. Both men moved their plates to make room for her, and Paris got an empty chair from a nearby table for her to sit on. "What's the occasion?" He asked. 

"Ensign Kim, a question." She looked to him. 

"Go ahead." He nodded. Paris continued his breakfast. 

"Please explain the word 'shit'." Seven of Nine requested. Paris spat his beverage out and began to laugh. "I fail to see the humor." She frowned. "I am attempting to learn about swear words and the computer definition is lacking." 

"Okay, so, uh, generally the word refers to, uh-" 

"Feces, I am aware." She informed him. "I am inquiring about this specific context." She ignored Paris calming down and resuming his breakfast.

“Right, uh, well, sorry, I don’t quite remember what I said.” Kim replied.

“Please elaborate on the phrase ‘yeah, no shit’.” Seven continued to ignore Paris as he laughed again. 

"Uh, it means like 'no duh'." Kim explained. 

"I am not familiar with that phrase." Seven of Nine replied. 

"Like 'of course'." He tried again. 

"I see. How does 'no shit' translate to 'of course'?" 

"I can't really explain it, sorry Seven. It's not logical." 

"Naomi's here." Paris alerted them. "Seven, you know not to say swear words around her, right?" 

"While I do not understand why certain words are considered limited to a certain age, I do not wish to displease Ensign Wildman, and will refrain from all words considered swear words when Naomi Wildman is present." Seven of Nine assured. 

> Word: Shit  
>  Quote: Yeah, no shit.   
>  Speaker: Harold Kim  
>  Relevant context: Humor, obvious information   
>  Computer definition: slang for fecal matter. 

A few weeks later Seven had added more swear words to her list, and had learned that their special status allowed one to express frustration and pain in order to lessen the feeling. She was attempting to show B'elanna Torres and Captain Janeway something in Astrometrics, but the computer was not following her instructions. 

"What the damn." Seven of Nine muttered as she tried to fix the problem. She still felt the same amount of frustration. 

"I'm sorry?" Captain Janeway asked. "Could you repeat that?" 

"I said 'what the damn', Captain." Seven of Nine responded clearly. She looked up to see Captain Janeway frowning at her and Torres covering her own mouth. 

"Seven, would you like to explain that?" Janeway asked in the tone of voice that meant a command instead of a question. 

"I have been attempting to learn more about swear words, Captain, and heard the hypothesis that they alleviate feelings of frustration. It does not appear to be the case for me." 

"And nowhere in your studies did you consider that you shouldn't swear in front of the captain?" Janeway asked. Seven of Nine frowned. 

"No, I see no reason why not, you are not a child." 

"It's considered unprofessional to swear at work, Seven, especially around those of a higher rank." Janeway explained with a sigh. 

"I see. I am not in Starfleet and therefore have no rank." Seven of Nine observed. 

"Please try not to swear at work. B'elanna, the two of you get this working." Janeway commanded and left. The two women started working on fixing the computer workstation. 

"You can't say 'what the damn', by the way." B'elanna Torres stated. 

"Why?" Seven of Nine asked. She had come to accept that her coworkers would make conversation while working. At least this conversation was interesting. 

"It's not how the words work. 'Damn' isn't one of the words that fits after 'what the'." B'elanna explained. 

"Why?" 

"I don't know, Seven, it just doesn't. If you want to swear, stick to phrases you've heard others say. Pass me that decoupler, would you?" 

"What are the words that fit after 'what the'?" 

"Let me think. 'What the fuck' is a classic, you can put 'fuck' just about anywhere, make it mean anything you want. 'What the shit' is more like an actual question, statement of disbelief kind of thing. 'What the hell' is pretty tame, but you should still not say it around Naomi or Janeway. I think that's all of them." 

"This relay is faulty. Why is swearing during a duty shift discouraged?" 

"It's seen as unprofessional and disrespectful, and don't ask me why." B'elanna cut off Seven of Nine about to ask why. "I don't know why certain words are swear words, I don't know why certain swear words work in certain phrases, I don't know why you're not supposed to swear at work." B'elanna sighed. "All I can tell you is which words are swears, how to use them, and not to use them at work." 

"Are you volunteering to tutor me in swearing?" Seven of Nine confirmed. B'elanna stared at her for a second, then chuckled. 

"I guess I did. Fuck it, sure, Seven. I'll explain whatever you want as soon as we get Astrometrics working." 

"Astrometrics is functioning properly." Seven of Nine stated a half hour later as they put the workstation back together and returned their tools to their places. 

"I can see that." B'elanna replied. 

"I have questions about swearing." Seven of Nine continued. 

"Of course you do." B'elanna sighed. "Go ahead." 

"If we are not supposed to swear during a duty shift, why do you?" 

"I trust you've noticed I'm a fairly temperamental person. Swearing helps me not punch people. And I do try not to do it at work." B'elanna answered. 

"I have heard you swear at work on multiple occasions." Seven of Nine frowned. 

"Yes, well, you frustrate me a lot of the time." 

"I see. I appreciate your tolerating my questions, it is..." she searched for the right word, "admirable to choose to help someone whose company you don't enjoy." 

"Okay, Seven." B'elanna looked uncomfortable and turned away to check her tools. 

"I have another question." Seven of Nine drew her attention again. "Earlier, you said 'fuck it'. Please explain." 

"'Fuck it' is-" B'elanna sighed. "In this context it means I'm going to ignore my knowledge that this action may be inadvisable, and do it anyway." 

"What does it mean in other contexts?" 

"The only other context that comes to mind is dismissal. Like, if I broke a hyperspanner but had a spare, I might say 'fuck it' about the broken one, I wouldn't care too much about it breaking since it wouldn't affect me very much. But as I said before, 'fuck' is a very versatile swear word." B'elanna explained. 

"Yes, I have heard it in many contexts and combinations. As adjective, adverb, verb, intensity modifier…" Seven of Nine listed. "The crew has all been surprisingly helpful in attempting to explain swear words to me." 

"Seven, you're part of the crew, too." B'elanna reminded her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At some point they realize they've fallen in love
> 
> Update: finished! Read the full thing here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27354778


	2. Chapter 18 of She's Imperfect but She Tries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the next chapter in my 'no-one dies' fic, and I'm really struggling with rewatching and rewriting the Dominion Occupation. I want to continue this story, but I don't have the energy for it right now :(

rewrite of 5.26 Call to Arms, 6.1 A Time to Stand   
  
“Would you mind telling me what’s going on?” Jadzia asked. At least she waited until Odo had left the cargo bay. 

“What do you mean?” Kira stalled. 

“You and Odo. You’ve been avoiding each other for weeks.” 

“Oh, it’s a long story.” Kira tried to focus on her work. 

“Those are the best kind.” Jadzia smiled. Kira sighed. 

“Odo has…” she got quieter, “feelings for me.” She didn’t look at her girlfriend, focusing on her tricorder instead. She knew Jadzia wouldn’t gossip about this. 

“What kind of feelings?” Jadzia asked seriously. 

“The kind that aren’t easy to talk about.” 

“Since when?” 

“Since- I don’t know. Years.” Kira guessed. “I just found out last month.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me? What are you going to do?” 

“That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you.” Kira sighed. “I don’t know what to do.” 

“Well, do you want to date him? Because I’m fine with that.” 

“No. We’re great friends, but nothing else.” 

“So tell him.” Jadzia counseled. 

“The problem is, he doesn’t know I know. So I’m just waiting for him to ask me out all the time.” 

“Ah.” Jadzia frowned. 

“What, no words of wisdom from your centuries of experience?” Kira teased lightly. 

“Nope. Even in over 350 years of experience, sometimes things like this just happen and it sucks. Do you have any plan for what you’ll do when he does ask you?” 

A few days later Odo called Kira to his office to discuss ending all subspace traffic in and out of DS9. As Kira turned to leave, glad he hadn’t asked her out but frustrated the charade would have to continue, he stopped her. 

“Major…” Odo started. Here it was. She bit her lips and turned back to him, looking at the floor, waiting for it to be over. “There’s… something you ought to know.” He paced behind his desk. 

“What’s that?” Kira asked, not looking up. Prophets, she couldn’t do this. 

“I’m... not sure how Commander Dax would feel about this, but I’ve been thinking about asking you out to dinner.” He admitted. Kira imagined how Jadzia would handle this. She squared her shoulders, clasped her hands behind her back, looked Odo in his eyes as she walked over to him. 

“I’ve been expecting something like this.” She stated. 

“I could tell.” Now Odo was the one who couldn’t meet her gaze. “You’ve looked a little uncomfortable around me lately.” 

“Well, you’ve looked a little uncomfortable yourself.” Kira noted. 

“Mmm… Which is why I wanted you to know I’m not going to do it. No dinner invitations, no flowers, no attempts at changing the nature of our relationship.” Odo assured, and Kira relaxed. “Until the current crisis has passed, we both need our minds to be clear, to be free of any unnecessary distractions.” He explained. Kira’s mind fought for a few seconds between rejecting him now or delaying it. Should she continue to have Odo’s feelings weighing on her, or should she distract him from his job with what might be his first ever heartbreak? It wouldn’t be fair to blame it on Dax. Kira could handle it for a few more weeks. 

“That’s probably a good idea.” She replied. Odo nodded. “So, for now, all we need to concern ourselves with is deploying the minefield, maintaining station security, and preparing ourselves for a possible invasion.” Kira summarized. 

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel more comfortable already.” Odo joked with a small smile. 

“And then he told me that he wouldn’t be asking me out or trying to change our relationship in any way.” Kira sighed, pacing her quarters, Jadzia and Ziyal on the couch. “But then he followed it up with ‘until this crisis is over’. He wants us to both have clear minds and be focused on protecting DS9 and Bajor.” 

“What’d you say?” Ziyal asked. 

“What could I say? I told him it was a good idea.” 

“Tell him you don’t want to date him.” Ziyal suggested. 

“I can’t distract him while the Dominion is preparing to attack.” Kira replied. 

“Nerys, that’s not your concern.” Jadzia countered. “I understand you don’t want to tell him right now, but when you’re ready, you can just use the same words he used today, you don’t want to change your relationship.” 

“It’s going to break his heart.” Kira sighed. 

“He’ll live.” Ziyal shrugged. 

“Rejection is a risk you take when you ask people for a date.” Jadzia added. “Yeah, it might make your relationship awkward for a little while, but Odo respects you.” 

“Garak, are you sure you won’t come with me?” Ziyal asked as they slowly walked her to the runabout, her tail dragging on the floor. 

“I don’t think I’d be very welcome on Bajor.” He excused. 

“I’m not going to be very popular there, either. It’d be nice to have my Night Father to keep me company. We could finish Leeta’s wedding dress.” She suggested. 

“I finished the dress last night. And, my dear, you’re half-Bajoran, so at least half of you will be accepted.” He pointed out. Kira bit her lips as Ziyal rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that Major Kira’s friends will take good care of you.” He continued. 

“Lupaza and Furel?” Ziyal confirmed, looking to Kira, who nodded. Ziyal’s face turned apologetic. “Which is which?” 

“Lupaza is the woman, Furel’s the man.” Kira smiled. “I know you didn’t spend much time together when they were on the station, but they know you’re my daughter, and they’ll treat you well. They’re going to meet the runabout when it lands.” 

“I’m guessing  _ they’ll  _ find _ me _ .” Ziyal joked humorlessly. “Garak, wouldn’t Julian want you somewhere safe?” She tried again. 

“You forget, Julian knows not to underestimate my gift for survival.” He replied. 

“And, as much as my friends love me,” Kira added, “I can’t make any promises for Garak’s safety on Bajor.” 

“She’s telling the truth.” Garak agreed before Ziyal could object. “And it would be terribly rude to ask them to accept another houseguest with no warning.” 

“Okay, I get it.” Ziyal sighed. “I’ll see you both soon.” 

“Remember that we’re on a subspace blackout, so we won’t be able to call each other for a while.” Kira and Garak hugged Ziyal goodbye and watched her enter the runabout, then wordlessly headed their separate ways. 

All hands were to battle stations to evacuate and prepare for the next wave of the Dominion attack. 

“Dax to Kira, can you meet me outside runabout pad A?” Kira’s combadge relayed. Sisko nodded to her. 

“On my way, Dax.” Kira replied, already striding for the turbolift. 

“Kira.” Jadzia called from the confusion of bodies. They moved to meet each other. 

“Dax, what’s wrong, you should be on the Def-” Kira stopped as Jadzia kissed her. 

“I’ve been in wars before, I know what I have to do. But I also know I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t take a few seconds right now to tell you I love you. I love you, Nerys. You’d better keep yourself safe.” 

“I love you too.” Kira threw her arms around her girlfriend. “If you die, I swear I’m going to- to find the next Dax just to yell at you for dying.” She threatened, tears in her eyes. Jadzia chuckled. 

“I’ll see you when this is all done.” Jadzia promised, squeezing tighter. “Me, Jadzia. We have to go, I just had to-” 

“I know. Get to your station, Commander.” Kira let go, wiping an eye, standing watch as the Defiant left. There went the rest of her family. Ziyal and the O’Briens were safe on Bajor, but Jadzia was on a battleship that could be blown up, and who knew what was going to happen on the station? They had a plan, but plans could get derailed. 

The door to her quarters chimed that evening as she prayed. She called it open. 

“Hey Kira.” 

“Jake?” She stared at the young man in shock. “Why aren’t you with your father?” 

“Well, I- I’m a reporter, and there’s a war going on-” 

“The real reason, not the one you rehearsed.” She interrupted, gesturing him in. 

“Well, part of it  is the need to be doing something useful. And part of it is that the Defiant was going to the front lines, while Bajor has a non-aggression treaty, so I’ll be safer here.” He fell onto the couch. 

“It is scary.” She agreed, sitting beside him. She'd read his report of his first battlefield experience. “You know you’re not going to have a lot of news about how your dad is doing.”    


“I know. I’m sorry if I interrupted you, I just figured you should know I’m here.” 

“I can pray later.” Kira assured him. 

“You were praying for them, right? Jadzia and everyone on the Defiant?” 

“Yeah.” She said softly. 

“I don’t know much about the Prophets, but they like my dad. They’ll keep them safe.” He assured. 

“Thanks, Jake.” She smiled. 

When Garak’s shop was still closed after a week, she asked Odo if he knew where the tailor was. It wasn’t that she missed him, or was even really curious, but the Cardassians would be fixing the communications at some point and Kira had no clue what to tell Ziyal when she undoubtedly asked if they were getting along. Odo told her he heard a rumor from Quark that Garak had stowed away on the Defiant to be with Bashir. Kira had to admit that it sounded like something Garak would do. 

She'd thought the first week with the Cardassians back would be the worst, but the second week was even worse than that. Dukat was leering at her, she hadn't seen Ziyal in two weeks, Molly and Yoshi in four, and her bed was far too big without Jadzia there. And there was no-one for her to talk to about it. Keiko was on Bajor, Miles, Jadzia, and Sisko were on the Defiant. Even Vilix'pran was off the station. The only parent she knew who was still here was Rom. His son was on the Defiant, so they had some shared anxiety, but she wasn't at that point yet. 

It was fairly easy for Kira to revert to ignoring almost all emotions besides anger. It probably should have worried her how quickly she fell back into her emotional blankness from the Occupation, but she ignored it. Every few days she'd go to Quark's for dinner, tell Rom and Jake that the Defiant was still fighting, then go cry herself to sleep. Eventually the tears stopped, too. She prayed every morning and evening, but it lost its fervor unless the Defiant was badly damaged. Jake visited her often, but she didn't talk much. It was enough to sit beside him on the couch, let him talk to her about what he was writing, dissuade him from his worst ideas. Being the Emissary's son would only go so far to protect him from the Dominion. 

Kira put up a façade and kept working. She couldn't tell if Weyoun didn't understand the sarcasm she used, especially around Dukat and Damar, or if he simply overlooked it. She could relax a bit around Odo and Jake, but not fully. Not until her family was safely back on the station. 


	3. Chapter 9 of Jadzia Returns

Over breakfast Ezri wondered what sort of tests they'd be doing that day and Jadzia remembered that the doctors would be leaving that morning. Ezri must have slept through Julian's comm. Jadzia debated seeing the doctors off, deciding she probably should, for politeness and leaving a good impression. She wasn’t wearing her dress uniform, though. Ezri agreed that dress uniforms would be too much. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then Ezri goes back to work and everyone asks if Jadzia will know what they say (maybe) 
> 
> Update: story finished! You can read the full thing here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20762303


End file.
